Nutshell: The final book of Boone’s spider-pocalypse is a whole lot of creepy fun. Strap in y’all, it’s gonna get spidertastic.

Story: As what’s left of the United States tries to figure out a way to defeat the spider threat, a small group of scientist and tech experts try to deal not only with spiders, but the crumbling structure of order. Meanwhile, large queen spiders are waiting to emerge…

“…of course it made sense that the airport was dark. There was nobody left to turn on the lights.”

Thoughts: This whole trilogy was a lot of fun to read. If you’re an apocalypse junkie like I am, you’ll want to get your hands on this book. No; you’ll want to get your hands on this series.

I get the same sort of wide-eyed enjoyment here that I did with Michael Crichton. Well, add in some creeped-out glee. But Boone does a similar bio-technical exposition that gives me the happy. He also does a fantastic job with what could happen when powerful government types disagree on things. Especially when those things deal with saving the world. There’s a lovely sense of claustrophobic paranoia in many scenes here, which helps heighten the already amped-up dread. Okay, for me it was a combination of dread an anticipation; what would these queen spiders do? What would happen once they emerged? All in good time, my little pretty. All in good time.

As with the first two books of the series, Boone has POV chapters from many different characters. Some make it. Some don’t. And that will they/won’t they got my spidey sense tingling in the very best way. Oh man. If you ever wondered what it’d be like to come down to earth during an apocalypse? Here you go. And what if you and your random hookup both survived an apocalyptic onslaught? It’d probably go a little something like this. These “boots on the ground” viewpoints don’t take away from the main characters and their story, but add to it, giving readers a wider view of what’s going on.

Unlike Skitter, readers who start with this book will be floundering for a bit. It even took me a while to get my bearings as to characters and where we’d left them. But a quarter of the way through I was back on track. I blame myself for not digging back into the first two, because there’s so much going on in these books that you really need to be up on things. I really needed to be up on things. So if you’re like me and tend to blow through books like it’s your job (ahem)? Definitely re-read the first two before jumping in here. Don’t worry, as each book is a page-turner, you’ll be done in no time flat. And enjoy. Maybe don’t read this one outside. Because heaven help your neighbors if a spider decides to amble over your foot during your read. They’ll think you’ve lost your mind.

Read or Reshelve: Definitely give it a read. But pick up The Hatching and Skitterfirst. You’ll want to get the full experience.

Publication 411: Atria Books, February 27, 2018

[NOTE: I received a free Kindle advance reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review. I received nothing else, not even a blowtorch. But after reading this trilogy, I kinda really want one. Y’know, just in case.]